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Manti Te'o Hoaxer's Female Cousin May Have Posed As Fake Dead Girlfriend
By
Ben Yakas
Published Jan 25, 2013
Modified Jan 25, 2013
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Jan 25, 2013
Modified Jan 25, 2013
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After yesterday's riveting midday interview with morning-turned-evening-turned-afternoon news host Katie Couric, we thought we had turned the page with this whole ridiculous Manti Te'o story. Nope: the NY Post claims that the female cousin of admitted hoaxer Ronaiah Tuiasosopo was heavily involved in the scam as well. Does that mean she'll have to write an apology letter in The Onion as well?
During the Couric interview yesterday, several voicemail message left by fake dead girlfriend Lennay Kekua were played on the air. After hearing the voicemails, one of Tino’s cousins told The Post, “There is no doubt whatsoever that it’s Tino [Tuiasosopo]." This despite the fact that Ronaiah Tuiasosopo took full credit for the hoax earlier this week, claiming he alone was behind late-night phone calls with Te'o, and he altered his voice to play the part.
Te’o told Couric yesterday that he always thought the voice he heard as Kekua was a woman. “Well, it didn’t sound like a man. It sounded like a woman,” he said. “If he somehow made that voice, that’s incredible, that’s an incredible talent to do that. Especially every single day."
In one of the voicemails, Kekua accused Te’o of having another girl in his room, saying, “I don’t know who answered your phone...I don’t care. [Inaudible] I’m trying. You made it clear what you want. Take care.” One of the Post's sources said, “That’s the way [Tino] cries when she’s feeling sorry for herself. Its her, that’s the voice.” Tino's father Bob declined to talk about the situation, but did say mysteriously: “I don’t want to divulge anything.”
To peel back the onion a little bit more, this is what Te'o said Kekua told him about her relationship with her cousin Ronaiah Tuiasosopo during his non-televised interview with ESPN:
MANTI TE'O: I asked her sister, U'i, and U'i was supposed to bring her. But they were having an event for Lennay at that time in their hometown. And she couldn't make it. So she said that Ronaiah was going to bring her. So, she brought her to the hotel, the Ritz Carlton hotel, and that's when I first met her, and that's when I first met, face-to-face, Ronaiah.
JEREMY SCHAAP: So who does this Ronaiah present himself as?
MANTI TE'O: Ronaiah presents himself as Lennay's cousin, and the older brother of this little girl, Pookah.
JEREMY SCHAAP: What communication had you had with him prior to this?
MANTI TE'O: The only communication I had with Ronaiah prior to this was he, in the beginning, when -- remember I told you when Lennay and I would talk and she'd just leave, she would talk about Ronaiah. And how she and him were like Bonnie and Clyde: That was her cousin, her favorite cousin, and since I didn't know where Lennay was, the only one I knew of that probably knew where Lennay was was Ronaiah. So I was asking him, "Do you know where your cousin went?" And he said, "Yeah, she went to Europe. Or, oh, yeah, I just saw her today, I'll tell her to contact you."
So yes—perhaps Tino-as-Kekua was being more honest than Te'o ever realized when she talked about her real cousin Ronaiah, and how they were like "Bonnie and Clyde." And who knows what new revelations await us next: perhaps Te'o will come out as an Otherkin. Perhaps Al Pacino will sign up to play Ronaiah Tuiasosopo in the HBO movie. Perhaps Katie Couric will turn out to have been a scarecrow all along.
Tagged
fake dead girlfriend
football
lies
manti te'o
notre dame
sports
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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